Stronger
by WaterDrinker247
Summary: A frail, sickly boy is about to meet someone who will help him come out of his shell and change for the better. Where will the two go, and what will come of their spontaneous friendship? No matter the answer to any of these, the boy is certain of one thing- he wants to become stronger!
1. Stronger

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 1:

Wally had just awoken from a long nap.

He slept more than either one of his parents, or anyone in Petalburg City. However, his sleep pattern was erratic, and he was prone to staying up for a few hours and sleeping for just as long.

This was due to his illness. Wally has always been sickly; he often had coughing fits as well as trouble breathing. He often would decide that he was better off not being awake to feel the pain that he was in. On top of this, it was summer, and school was out, so he truly felt he had no reason to be awake.

On this night in particular though, at the odd hour of 3:00 AM, Wally was feeling quite well and decided to stay up for a while. He sat up in his bed and pulled his favorite book off of his nightstand- _The Wildlife of Kanto_. He was an intelligent boy, even for his age (15), but he only ever looked through this book for the pictures it held within. As he flipped through the pages, he admired all of the majestic pokémon, imagining how each one would use its skills to overpower an opponent.

At this moment, Wally had begun to feel embarrassed. He was staring at a Machoke, thinking about how its physique looked similar to some of his classmates' physiques. Wally looked down, he could see his own ribs. He sighed and set the book back on his nightstand.

"_I wish I could be strong like a Machoke..._" he thought to himself as he drifted back into a sad slumber.

* * *

Instead of waking up at some random hour on his own, his mother woke him up with exciting news.

"Wally, Dear!" his mother exclaimed, "I have some exciting news! Please get dressed and come to the dining room though, you really need some breakfast first."

Wally, not expecting anything that would actually excite him, sluggishly put on his loose fitting collared shirt, followed by too-long pants, socks, and shoes.

The aroma of his breakfast captivated him. "_Maybe this is worth getting out of bed for_" he pondered as he entered the dining room to see the plates of waffles, pancakes, and berries. He sat down and chowed down. It always surprised his family to see how much the 4'10" (1.48m) and 94lb (42.64kg) boy could eat; he had finished two pancakes in just over two minutes.

* * *

After he had cleaned up his face, wiping off berry stains and syrup, he looked at his parents to see what it is that they got his attention for.

"Wally, dear, you have always really liked pokémon, right?" his father asked

"Y-Yeah!" Wally exclaimed, seeing where this was going.

"Well Professor Birch, from Littleroot Town has just received three new ones! We think it would be a wonderful idea for you to get one!"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "B-but isn't that pretty far?"

His parents exchanged glances. "I suppose it is… but don't worry sweetie!" his mother reassured, "You will still get one! We even got you a pokéball!"

Wally gave a worried stare. "I really like pokémon, but r-really, is this all necessary?"

Again, his parents exchanged glances. "We really do think it would be for the best, son… you see, we really want to make sure you aren't alone… Wally, I didn't wanna sour the mood, but you are going to be moving to Verdanturf to be living with your Aunt and Uncle."

At this, Wally stared in shock, and with his lip quivering he asked "B-but w-why?"

But he knew why. People from all around Hoenn spoke of the unparalleled level of freshness that Verdanturf's air had. He knew that it was so he would get better.

Wally hung his head in sadness, and tears streamed down his face as his parents consoled him. But he soon pulled himself together. "T-thank you… I know this is for the best, so I wanna make the best of it." He stared at the pokéball. "I think I'll ask Mr. Norman for help!" he exclaimed as he got up and began to run off. His parents stared, worried, but knew that with the help of Mr. Norman, he would be safe.

* * *

Wally realized too late that he should not have been running; he was out of breath in no time. He was wheezing, trying to catch his breath, trying not to throw up, and trying not to pass out. In all of this confusion and dizziness, Wally stumbled right into someone staring down at a town map. Of course, due to his size, he was the one who fell over. He regained his senses and looked up to see an athletic-looking brunette, that looked to be near the same age as him, extending her hand downward to him.

Wally realized that he just made a fool out of himself in front of a pretty girl. "I-I uhh…" Wally began to say as he took her hand and was easily lifted back onto his feet. He blushed and looked away "I'm sorry about that…"

The girl, worried about the shy boy explained "No, no, I'm sorry! I was just trying to find something on the map, I really shouldn't have just been standing in the middle of a walkway! Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah" Wally said quickly. He realized he was actually intimidated by this girl, she seemed to be almost 7 inches taller than him, a little older than him, and in much better shape than him. This was not exclusive to her though, Wally really was intimidated by every stranger, so he tries to avoid talking to them. They almost always do the same to him, but this stranger was different.

"My name is May by the way! You must've been in a hurry, where were you heading off to? I'm sure I could help you find it!" She smiled brightly and gestured to the map of Petalburg.

Wally blushed and avoided eye contact with her. "I-I was j-just going to see Mr. Norman…"

May's face lit up even more. "That's my dad! I was just looking for his gym actually! Let's go find it together!"

Wally felt his heart race. Was he, a sickly, frail boy, really just invited to walk with a cute girl? "S-sure."

* * *

As they walked around the city, May chatted about herself and asked about him, Wally only giving simple and shy answers. By the time they had found the entrance to the gym, the topic of May's move to Littleroot was brought up, and Wally felt his heart drop.

May, noticing not only a sudden change in expression but tears welling up in his eyes, asked "Wally? Are you okay? Did I hurt your feelings?"

May was sympathetic, and loved making friends. Even by walking a little and making small talk, May felt like she could call Wally a friend, so she began to panic when she noticed his watery eyes. To try and comfort him the best way she knew, she gave the thin boy a hug.

Wally, still quite reserved, did not yet return the hug, and it was short lived. After Wally had dry eyes, he spoke up "S-sorry about that, the topic of moving just bums me out a little… I hate crying in front of people, I'm so weak…" Wally scolded himself.

"Don't be ridiculous!" May piped up. "You're here to see my father, that must mean you're super tough!"

Wally looked up at her in awe, thankful for her kind words, but soon realized what she meant. "N-no, I'm not here to challenge him actually… I wanted to see how to get a pokémon."

May was taken aback, but tried not to let it show. Regardless of what she thought before, she now knew she could help him. "Follow me! I'm the future champion- I hope- so I know a thing or two about how to catch one!"

* * *

As they walked to Route 102, Wally reflected some on what happened earlier, how she was sweet to him even though they had just met. He also thought about her comment, how she was destined for greatness, and warmed up to her. "H-hey May, I really admire your c-confidence." he said cautiously.

"My what?" she asked, obliviously. "Oh, you mean me saying I'm the future champion? I wouldn't call that confidence! It's just my dream, ya know?"

"W-well, that and how easily you seem to talk to people… I could never do that…"

May smirked. "Well we'll just see about that, Mister! I bet I can help you become the bravest and best! You probably already are, you just don't know it yet!" May winked cutely.

Wally blushed madly. "Y-you really think that? A-and you'd really help me?" He asked, almost dumbfounded.

"Of course! I'd love to! Besides, you seem fun to be around!" Wally turned redder at each compliment.

Wally knew that this would conflict with the whole 'moving to Verdanturf' thing. He knew he'd have to beg his parents. In the midst of thinking of these problems, Wally almost tripped over a little Ralts.

* * *

"Wally, look out! You don't have a pokémon on you!" May threw out her Treecko in preparation to battle.

"W-wait a second!" Wally looked at the Ralts, and it looked back. It was obvious that it had no intention of harming him. It seemed to know that Wally was thinking very hard about something, and was compelled to see the user of the brain which held such thought and worry.

Wally was no doubt very nervous, but for some reason, being around May, the first person who seemed to believe in him, gave him confidence. He extended his arm downward towards the Ralts, who put its tiny hand inside his palm and gave a smile.

"Awww that is so cute!" May said and followed with a giggle. "It looks like you may have found your first pokémon, Wally! See if it will accept being caught!"

Wally was blushing furiously from yet another compliment, but he powered through the embarrassment and held the pokéball to the Ralts. It, seeming to understand, smiled and cried out its name in agreement. Wally took that as the cue to open up the ball and attempt to catch the Ralts, an attempt that succeeded after three brief shakes.

"Congratulations!" May ran up to Wally and hugged him tightly, enough to make it hard for him to breathe but not enough for him to ask her to let go. He felt pretty happy for once, and he was glad he got out of bed this morning.

This time, he hugged May back.


	2. May

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 2:

May was new to Littleroot Town. She was new to the Hoenn Region itself.

She had just moved all the way from the Johto Region. This was no big deal to her though; despite her friendliness, she was not particularly close to anyone back in Olivine City. She was actually quite ecstatic to be in the Hoenn Region now.

All her life, she had seen and heard about pokémon constantly. She would call her father consistently, and he would tell her about the opponents who never quite defeated him. Of course, May knew that he would be defeated occasionally, but he never brought those tough trainers up in conversation.

She eventually came to the conclusion that in her life, she wanted to be a pokémon master, traveling all across the Johto Region, eventually defeating the Champion, Gold, and perhaps even the mysterious Red, in Mt. Silver. Unfortunately, the move was too soon for her to begin her journey in the region she resided in at the time; instead, she would wait nearly a year and begin it in a brand new setting.

* * *

Upon arriving at Littleroot Town, May knew that settling into her room would be pointless. She knew that a professor that lived nearby had received some new starter pokémon, and she had to take that opportunity to pursue her dreams.

Her mother had her greet the neighbors before anything else though. May, knowing that the professor lived nearby, saw this as a wonderful opportunity to meet him. When she knocked on the house next door to hers, a middle aged, dark-haired woman greeted her.

"Oh, hello Dear! You must be one of our new neighbors!" the lady greeted.

"Yes ma'am! My name is May!" she replied.

"Well, you look to be about the same age as my son, Brendan! Why don't you go upstairs and greet him?"

May was a little taken aback, but she wasn't opposed to meeting new people; she was already excited to make friends in her adventure. She walked upstairs into a room with a pokéball in its center and a boy, who she presumed to be Brendan, in the corner. He looked to be two inches or so taller than her (she's 5'5" (1.65m) so he's 5'7 (1.7m)), and he had dark brown hair covered mostly up by a white hat.

"_Eh, he's alright I guess._" May thought, regarding his looks.

Brendan looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. "Um, hi? If you knocked, I didn't hear, sorry. Are you the new neighbor?"

"Yeah, the name's May!" May walked over and extended an open hand to him, which he took and shook.

"My name is Brendan. Are you going to be a pokémon trainer too?"

May was surprised. "How did you know?"

Brendan shrugged and smiled. "Just a lucky guess! But I'm glad I found another one, I've been curious about who's going to get the pokémon my dad just received."

May was even more surprised now. "Your dad got some pokémon? Is he the professor?"

Brendan nodded. They both went on talking about how they were very excited to become trainers, and walked down to Professor Birch's Pokémon Lab. Upon realizing that the professor was not there, Brendan went to ask his mother where he had gone. May, however, had other plans. She started walking to the outskirts of town to see if there was any long grass with a pokémon she may be able to catch within. As she headed to the northernmost part of Littleroot, she heard a girly scream, and her heroic instincts kicked in.

* * *

It was not a girl being attacked though, it was a man. A middle aged, bearded man was being chased by a wild pokémon, one May had never seen before.

"Help me please!" the man begged as it bit on to his laboratory coat. "Take one of the pokéballs and get this thing off of me!"

May, without pause, grabbed the closest ball to her, pressed the button in the center, and threw it in the direction of the attacking pokémon. Out of the ball came a green reptilian with a small twig in its mouth. May had been told how to battle by her father, but she didn't even know which moves this thing knew. The professor, who now had a moment of respite, said "That's a Treecko," gesturing towards the green pokémon. "It knows 'Pound' and 'Leer.'"

"That's all I needed to know." May said confidently. "Treecko, use Pound!" The Treecko lunged, balled its hands up into fists, and let them drop together like a hammer onto the other pokémon.

"Poochy…" the other pokémon groaned, as it hid its tail between its legs and ran off.

May wiped sweat off her brow and smiled. "All done, you're all safe and sound now!"

The man in the laboratory coat sighed in relief and withdrew the Treecko, as well as the other pokéballs that had fallen outside of the bag which May drew them from. "Thank you very much, young lady. I am Professor Birch, please stop by my laboratory whenever you can and I'll reward you for your bravery."

May gasped. Not only did she just meet the Pokémon Professor, but she just saved him. She felt as though she had been blessed. May stopped by to tell her mother everything that went down, as well as to tell her that she is about to begin her great journey. Of course, her mother knew this from the start, so there was no conflict.

* * *

May went to see Professor Birch to receive her reward. Brendan was there as well, clearly waiting to receive a pokémon. "Now, son, this young lady here saved me. You may be my son but she has earned the first choice of pokémon." Professor Birch explained. May was not surprised that she was receiving a pokémon as her reward, but the idea of it still excited her greatly.

"I want Treecko! I battled using it, I can't imagine choosing any of the other ones!" May explained, as she reached for its pokéball. Professor Birch did not stop her, he even chuckled a little as she did so. Brendan smiled at May's enthusiasm and reached for the ball closest to the left. "I don't care which pokémon this is, I know I'll love it no matter what." Professor Birch smiled at the two promising young trainers, who were now starting to leave.

"Wait a second you two!" he exclaimed. "Take these!" Professor Birch handed each of the two a Pokédex. "This is so you can identify any pokémon you encounter." The two thanked him and left.

* * *

The two went through route 101 separately. May took her time and trained her Treecko for almost twenty minutes, while Brendan rushed through to Oldale Town. Once May got there, she traveled north and found Brendan waiting patiently.

"Waiting for me?" she asked.

"Sort of, I was curious to see how strong you got!" Brendan grinned and threw out an orange and yellow bird-looking pokémon. May, knowing a challenge when she sees one, threw out her Treecko and looked at Brendan's pokémon with her pokédex.

"_Torchic… A fire type, huh? Well then I'll just win with brute strength!_" May thought to herself. "Treecko, use Quick Attack!" she commanded. As she did, her Treecko seemingly vanished, and appeared right in front of the Torchic, punching it with blinding speed.

"Torchic, counter it with an Ember!" Brendan retaliated. The Torchic let out a small fireball, which hurt Treecko a little more than May anticipated, but she was not worried. The Torchic was not far from fainting.

"Finish it off with a Pound, Treecko!" May said. As she did, Brendan began to call for another 'Ember,' but the Torchic simply wasn't fast enough. May's Treecko slammed hard on the Torchic, and knocked it out, rendering it too weak to continue battling.

Brendan sighed. "Oh well, at least it was a fun battle! I guess we'll see who's stronger next time we meet! You'll be surprised, you hear?" said Brendan.

May went back to Oldale Town to heal her Treecko. She decided not to train too much more, she was ready to get to see her dad. She breezed through Route 102, defeating all of the trainers she saw, while avoiding tall grass as much as possible.

* * *

Once she got into Petalburg City, she got lost quite quickly, as it was a larger town than Littleroot or Oldale. She stopped into the Poké-Mart and bought a map. When she went outside to orient herself to the map… *_WHUMP!_* She felt someone that must have been a middle schooler bump into her before falling over.

She turned around to see a pale, green-haired, skinny boy that was clearly just a small high schooler. He was mumbling and blushing, trying to apologize.

"_Oh my Arceus… he is SO adorable._" May thought to herself as she helped him up while reassured him that everything was okay, and he should not be the one apologizing.

She was intrigued by this boy, so she started to make some small talk. Through this, she learned that he was looking for May's father's Pokémon Gym, which she jumped on the opportunity to assist him in finding.

* * *

On the walk to the Gym, she learned even more about him through the things he said, and through the things he didn't.

May learned that his name is Wally, and that he is 15 (only a year younger than May). She could tell from how he stuttered and how short his responses were that he was incredibly reserved. He would occasionally cough while trying to speak, so she gathered that he was a little sickly. During her conversation with him, she brought up how she had just moved into Littleroot Town all the way from the Johto Region. This apparently brought up some bad thoughts or memories, because Wally suddenly looked very sad.

"_Oh Arceus… Please don't be upset, please don't cry!_" May thought as she tried to comfort him with a hug, which she was somewhat disappointed that he did not return. Soon though, Wally pulled himself together and wiped the tears from his face.

"S-sorry about that, the topic of moving just bums me out a little… I hate crying in front of people, I'm so weak…" Wally said, reprimanding himself.

"_He doesn't want to be weak..._" May realized. She knew what she had to do, she had to make him see that he was nothing of the sort. "Don't be ridiculous!" May piped up. "You're here to see my father, that must mean you're super tough!"

Wally explained that he was not even a pokémon trainer yet; he was looking to become one. May encouraged him, and insisted that he come with her to catch one. "Follow me! I'm the future champion- I hope- so I know a thing or two about how to catch a pokémon!" May not only believed that one day she would become the champion, but she hoped this confidence would provide some credibility. Wally seemed to be very inspired by this confidence, as he followed her.

* * *

Both of them walked to Route 102 together. They exchanged words more comfortably, though Wally was still without a doubt the most shy person May had ever met. She wanted to change that, even if it was cute. She saw within him a brave trainer who could overcome anything, especially any sickness. She wanted to go on her adventure with him, and she encouraged him to accompany her. She saw the potential her newfound friend held within.

Wally soon was approached by a Ralts. As it took May by surprise, she instinctively took out her Treecko, but Wally halted her. As if he had known the Ralts all of his life, he held out his hand to it. The Ralts put its tiny appendage into Wally's palm.

"_That is so incredibly cute!_" May thought, as she accidentally commented on it aloud, causing Wally to blush furiously. He, of course, captured the Ralts, which May ran up to congratulate him for.

May wrapped her arms around him, very excited not only that on this day, she has found a new friend, but she has also found a fellow trainer to accompany her on her on her adventure. Taking her by surprise, Wally hugged her back.

"_His arms are so small… Cute!_"


	3. Petalburg Woods

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 3:

Wally felt like things would not end up in his favor. After all, he usually had poor luck, why would today be any different?

He was certain that he would go up to his parents, beg to go on a pokémon adventure with May, and get turned down. But something about being around someone so overwhelmingly positive gave Wally a small burst of confidence. Enough confidence to make his case that a pokémon adventure would be just as good for his health as moving to Verdanturf would.

While Wally was thinking about all of this, he was still hugging May, as tight as his little arms would allow. Very soon after, he felt lactic acid building up in his arms and had to let go, rubbing his arms tenderly. He sat down for a second to catch his breath before walking back to Petalburg to see his parents, and May sat down beside him.

"Are you okay?" May inquired. "You seem a little winded, I didn't hug you too hard did I?"

Wally laughed. "N-no, but I think I was hugging _you_ too hard."

At this, May giggled and stood up to stretch. "You know, I didn't say it earlier, but I'm very thankful to have met you. I met this other guy, Brendan, and I was thinking he would come with me on my pokémon journey. But he had his own plans, which I respect."

Wally nodded thoughtfully. "I-I guess it's really a s-spur of the moment type thing, going on an adventure, and who you decide to go with. I-I'm just glad that you seem so accepting of m-me into yours!" As Wally said this, he came to the realization that someone had finally accepted him. Even if it was not unsimilar to becoming a first mate to a pirate on a whim, it was something he suddenly realized he enjoyed. Wally suddenly wondered if he had made his first friend.

"C-c-can I call you m-my f-fr…" Wally tried to get out.

May, a little astonished, replied, "Friend? Of course! I thought it was obvious that we're friends now!"

Wally suddenly felt as if a weight had been taken off of his chest. His first friend, his first person with whom to share his feelings with, his first training partner, maybe eventually his first crush. All of these aspects in one person, it was something unfamiliar yet pleasant to Wally

He felt tears build, but he fought the urge to cry, even if it was from happiness. "_I have to be stronger._" he thought. Instead, he smiled.

* * *

Wally got up, and together the two walked to Petalburg City. Wally explained that he needed to see his parents before he left, to which May replied that she would talk to her father in the meantime.

Wally, very nervous about the upcoming conversation, entered his house slowly. When his parents saw his facial expression, his mother stood up to hug him. "It's okay, sweetie, you'll be able to catch a pokémon in Verdanturf…"

"O-oh, I actually caught one!" Wally replied, and his parents were relieved.

"Then what's the matter, son?" his father asked.

"W-well… I was thinking… could I g-go on a pokémon j-journey?"

His parents were a little stunned. "Now, Wally… you know that walking all around the region could be dangerous. What if you passed out in the middle of a route?"

"M-my partner would help me!" Wally said, somewhat confidently.

His parents, taken aback, inquired about who this partner was. After some back and forth discussion, they concluded that they would consider it, so long as they could meet the partner and verify that he/she was responsible. Wally understood, so he went outside to get May.

* * *

While Wally was talking with his parents, May had been telling her father about the move over to Littleroot and how her pokémon was already so strong. Of course, she also told him about the boy who she asked to accompany her on her journey.

"N-no, it's not like that! He is sweet- don't look at me that way!" May argued with her father.

"I'm just teasing, May!" Norman said. "I've known Wally since he moved to Petalburg, he's a very sweet boy. I think it's admirable that you want to help him get stronger."

At this point in the conversation, Wally stumbled into the gym, looking for May. "O-oh, s-sorry to interrupt…" Wally said as he walked back out slowly.

"No, no, it's fine! May was just talking about how _handsome_ she thinks you are!" Norman said with a chuckle.

Wally and May both blushed, and May stuck her tongue out at her dad. She didn't want to outwardly deny it, even though she really wasn't talking about that. She just really didn't want to hurt Wally's feelings.

* * *

The two walked together back to Wally's house, where Wally introduced May to his parents, who requested a private chat with May, sending Wally to his room.

May gave off a strong first impression since she was the daughter of Norman and very sweet. It was clear that such a person was trustworthy, especially since she explained that Wally had opened up to her a little. She also reassured them of her credibility in being Wally's travel partner by acknowledging that she knew he was sickly, and wanted to see him improve and become stronger.

After the brief interview, Wally was called back out, and he was given the 'OK' to actually go on an adventure, under the condition that he had to bring his inhaler with him at all times.

Wally grabbed some personal belongings and hugged his parents goodbye.

* * *

The two began to travel to Route 104, where they spent almost two hours training against the wild pokémon. Quite often, Wally's Ralts would be slightly too weak to defeat a wild pokémon, so Treecko would step in and rescue it. By the end of the training session, they had visited the Pokémon Center eight times, Treecko evolved into a Grovyle, and Ralts was now easily able to defeat Route 104's wild pokémon with one quick 'Confusion' or 'Disarming Voice' attack.

Though Ralts had become significantly stronger, Wally himself was exhausted. May noticed his fatigue and decided that, since the sun was already setting, it was time to call it a night.

"D-do we just go back to our h-homes?" Wally asked nervously. He knew it would be awkward, as he had said his goodbyes on that same day.

"No, of course not, silly! We're on an adventure, we have to set up a secret base!" May replied.

"H-how do we-" Wally had begun to ask, but May answered his question with a glint of light reflecting off of a disk in her hand.

"My father knew that I would need to sleep during my journey, so he gave me his. It's a TM called 'Secret Power." May brought her Grovyle out from its pokéball and handed the disk to it. It began to look closely at the disk, as if reading an inscription that was visible to it and it alone. Grovyle and the disk began to glow, and as its glowing dissipated, as did the disk's.

Wally was left dumbfounded. He had never put any thought into how pokémon learned from TMs; he certainly would never have expected _that_.

Wally shrugged it off. Despite the stunning display, his question was still left unanswered- how and where would they find someplace to sleep?

May, as if reading his mind, said "Now we'll find an entrance to a secret base, use Secret Power to enter, and spend the night in it!"

"_How and where do we find one?..._" the two thought respectively. "S-should we split up and look for entrances?" Wally suggested.

"Yeah, good thinking Wally! It'll look like a little crevice in a wall or on a tree, but it won't look particularly natural!" May explained.

Wally nodded. "G-good luck, let's meet back here in ten minutes?" Wally suggested.

"Smart thinking yet again, big brain!" May said with a giggle, making Wally hide a blush. "Alright, I'll see you in ten minutes then!"

* * *

May went to check along the large rocks near the shoreline before going into Petalburg Woods, so Wally had a little bit of a head start in the forest. It was not yet nighttime, but the sun was setting and Wally was getting nervous. He tried his best to steel his nerves and keep walking. He checked every large tree, but he found nothing. As he progressed, he thought her heard two voices.

He was completely correct, he found a man in a laboratory coat begging to be left alone, as a brawnier man in a blue outfit was clearly harassing him.

"_Oh, Arceus, oh Arceus, here goes nothing…_" Wally thought as he moved himself away from the tree he was hiding behind. "S-s-stop it!" He commanded somewhat nervously.

Both of the people in the situation stared at him. Wally was expecting to be laughed at by both of the men. While the man in the blue did laugh, the man in the lab coat moved behind Wally and begged for protection. "_I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..._" Wally thought and whispered under his breath as he threw out Ralts, challenging the man in blue.

"Are you lookin' to get your butt whooped, boy? Fine then, be my guest!" He said as he threw what Wally recognized to be a Poochyenan out of his pokéball.

Wally knew this would be easy. He may be trembling out of fear but he knew he was going to win. "R-Ralts, use Disarming Voice!" he commanded. Ralts made a loud shriek, which was accompanied with glowing pink sound waves, all of which slammed into the opposing pokémon. It was no contest, Wally had just won by using only one move.

The next part was a blur to Wally. The man in blue left, the lab coat man thanked Wally and left, and Wally withdrew Ralts and began to run back to meet May and tell her what happened.

* * *

The next thing he knew, he was in a bed, in a dimly lit, stone room. May was sitting on a bed across from him, with a worried expression. "Wally, are you okay? I found you in the entrance to the woods, passed out and drooling on the floor!"

Wally was unbelievably embarrassed. "_I drool? Oh Arceus I'm such a slob…_" he thought as he covered his face. The embarrassment subsided as Wally remembered why he was running in the first place. "M-May! I got into a trainer battle, there was a j-jerk trying to steal from someone, I s-saved him!" Wally recounted.

May looked astonished. "Woah, really! And you won? That was your first trainer battle, and you _won_? I'm so proud!" May ran over to his bed and hugged him, something that Wally was very fond of and becoming used to.

"Y-yeah!" He said as he returned the hug as best as he could; him still sitting on a bed made it a little awkward. "H-hey, w-where are we exactly?"

"Oh, I found a Secret Base, it didn't take that long! They're like free hotel rooms that you can find anywhere! There's even a bathtu-er… I mean a hot spring!" May gestured towards a large, steaming puddle that had water trickling down into it. "I even took a bath while you were asleep!"

Wally blushed madly at the thought that she had bathed in the same room as him, but he tried to hide it. "H-h-how long w-was I out?" He said, changing subjects.

"About fifteen minutes!" May responded. "I didn't want to get out of the hot spring but I didn't expect you to begin moving around so early!"

"_It felt like only a few seconds to me..._" Wally thought.

"Oh, and I brought us towels for our journey by the way, so whenever you need to bathe, feel free to!"

Wally gulped hard. He was sticky with sweat from training so much all day, but he was too scared to get in the hot spring with May in the same room as him.

"Don't worry, silly! Your body will be submerged in the water, I won't see anything! Besides, I'll close my eyes if it makes you feel any better." May said as she covered her eyes with her hands.

* * *

Wally shakily undressed to his boxers. There was nobody watching him, so why was he so scared? May obviously respected his privacy, and he knew he _had_ to keep good hygiene for his personal health. He also didn't want to gross May out by smelling bad, though he had never had any body odor problems before.

He nervously stripped himself of his boxers after reassuring that May couldn't see a thing, grabbed a towel to have closeby, and went into the water. "I-I-I'm in the water! Y-you can open y-your eyes now!" Wally said nervously.

May uncovered her eyes. "_That water is almost as tall as he is…_" she thought and giggled to herself.

Wally felt embarrassed, not knowing what she was giggling about, so he sank himself a little lower in the water, to reassure himself that she could see nothing.

"So, Wally. I feel like I need you to address something since we're partners." May started. "Your lungs aren't that good, right? So why were you running out there?"

Wally wanted to hide from this conversation, but he was trapped in a tiny hot spring. "I-I don't know… It was an impulse…" he said, ashamedly.

May laid on her bed, facing towards Wally. "Don't be nervous, Wally. I'm here to help you. I just don't want to_ lose_ you. I don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself. I don't want to start thinking that you're not fit to travel with me, in fact I really want to help you get stronger. But right now, you are very limited. So please, for me, take care of your body." May said emotionally.

Wally could not help but cry a little, he felt like he was close to losing his first and only friend. Thankfully for him, the water hid the tears. "Y-y-you're right, May… I'll be more c-careful. I'm s-so sorry…"

May looked as if she just accidentally stepped on a small pokémon's foot. "P-please don't apologize to me! I just want you to be safe, is all! I was just really worried about you!" she stammered.

With that, Wally felt better. "A-as your p-partner, I p-promise I won't be so reckless anymore!" Wally said to reassure both May and himself.

* * *

Both feeling more at ease with each other, Wally and May continued chatting for a few minutes, before Wally was done in the hot spring. May closed her eyes, and opened when he gave the 'OK.' She giggled, as Wally was wearing the towel like a girl. "W-what?" Wally asked as he covered his 'swimsuit area,' worried that the towel was not hiding it well enough.

May covered her eyes as he put on some clothes then crawled into his bed. They both let out their respective pokémon to sleep on the soft fabric of the beds. They both nodded off, but May woke up an hour later due to a weird dream about trampolines. She saw that Wally had thrown his covers off to cool down. She blushed and closed her eyes again to try and sleep.

"_He didn't tell me he slept shirtless…_"


	4. Bad Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 4:

Wally was in a pool, floating around lazily on an inflatable ring. It was a public pool, where seemingly nobody but himself, Ralts, and the lifeguard were.

He stepped out of the pool to dry off, and the lifeguard immediately started blowing her whistle. "_What did I do now?_" Wally thought as he went to go see what the lifeguard had to say.

But the lifeguard was not blowing her whistle at him. When Wally looked to see what the lifeguard was staring so intently at, he saw himself in the water, clearly unable to swim. When Wally looked back at the lifeguard, she, who was now May, had jumped into the water to save the drowning copy of himself.

He blinked, and he was suddenly in May-lifeguard's arms, being carried out of the water. "I-I can breathe, d-don't worry!" Wally said as May started to attempt to perform CPR on him. As she lowered her face closer and closer to his, Wally faced away, covered his mouth, and shut his eyes tightly.

He felt a strong hand grip his wrist tightly, picking him all the way off of the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was not at a pool, and it was not May. It was the man in the blue outfit, who had a sinister look in his eyes. Wally grabbed for his pokéball with his free hand, but it was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, he felt as though he couldn't breathe. The man in blue had wrapped his free hand around Wally's small neck, strangling him. "_R-Ralts, where are you?..._" he thought. In the corner of his eye, though, he saw his Ralts as well as the man with a lab coat passed out on the floor of the forest. "_May, someone… please…_"

Wally inhaled sharply, followed by a coughing fit, which he tried to make quieter. May and Grovyle were undisturbed, as they were both in deep sleep. Ralts, however, got up to comfort Wally. The horrendous nightmare that he was having was loud enough for the psychic pokémon to be awoken, not from actual noise, but from the noise inside of his head.

Wally sat up for a moment to try his best to clear his mind. He threw off his covers, as they were too thick and heavy for his frail body to support all night, and they were likely the cause of the choking feeling he had. Ralts was trying its best to still comfort him, but it was still very tired and fell asleep on his lap. "_I guess it's bedtime again…_" he thought as he drifted back to sleep.

* * *

Wally was granted the gift of having a dreamless sleep after the one nightmare. May, on the other hand, had two that she could remember. The first dream she had was, to put simply, about trampolines.

She was in a store that was laid out like a mattress store, but instead of mattresses, there were hundreds of trampolines. She was jumping from trampoline to trampoline, but missed a jump. As she was about to land with painfully on the metal rim of the trampoline, she woke up with a jolt. She looked over to make sure that her jolt didn't awaken Grovyle. She then looked to Wally and saw that his covers were off of him, exposing his bare chest.

"_He didn't tell me he slept shirtless…_" she thought as she drifted back to sleep.

* * *

She had yet another odd dream. This time, she was walking to Petalburg City Gym, with Wally, to see her father. Upon arriving to the gym, Wally confidently asked to battle her father.

Instead of laughing at him, May's father accepted the challenge and threw out a Vigoroth. Wally unbuttoned his collared shirt and threw out his Ralts, who was clearly underleveled for the battle. Somehow, though, Ralts defeated the Vigoroth, and began to evolve (May didn't yet know what Ralts evolved into so in her dream it just grew in size). Wally was awarded the gym badge then and there.

Wally was ecstatic, jumping around, but as soon as May came over to congratulate him, he turned more serious and mature. He grabbed May's hands and stared her deeply in the eyes. "Thank you, May. I wouldn't have come this far without your help." Dream-Wally said. May could not help but blush at this.

May was taken completely aback. She knew Wally to be absolutely adorable and boyish, but in this dream, he was more upright, more mature, and even _handsome_. Dream Wally didn't lean in for a kiss, but when May had woken up, she was blushing very deeply. For a second, May tried to interpret the dream, and suddenly felt like she was being selfish. "_Am I helping Wally to make him the perfect boyfriend or something?_" She shook her head, dismissed the thought, and laid back down.

"_I don't know him well enough to decide whether I wanna date him. I wanna help him get stronger, that's all. He just __**happens**__ to be cute…_" she thought to reassure herself.

* * *

Neither of them had set an alarm, but Wally did have a bizarre internal clock. He woke up around 7:00 AM, feeling refreshed and ready to continue his adventure. He tried to wake May up, but both May and Grovyle grumpily shooed him away.

"_Then I'll train by myself until you wake up!_" Wally thought. He wrote a note, explaining that he had his inhaler on him and that he'd not go past Petalburg Woods.

Wally and Ralts headed out to Route 104, where there were now a few trainers. He nervously challenged each of them, defeating them somewhat easily. He realized that he should progress into the woods to train against stronger trainers and pokémon.

* * *

May woke up fully about an hour later and looked at Wally's note. She was relieved that he took a safety precaution, but she was still worried, so she put her shoes on quickly and headed out after him, closing up the secret base so that other trainers could make use of it.

By the time she had caught up to Wally, he was easily defeating a bug-catcher. She snuck up behind him as he finished congratulating the trainer and wishing him luck, and poked him on the neck to startle him. Of course, he jumped and screamed. He covered his mouth and blushed, when realizing that he screamed in front of May. "Heya Wally! I can see you've been busy getting stronger!" May pointed out.

Wally felt touched by the choice of words. "T-thank you!" he said louder than he meant to.

May rubbed her chin. "So we could easily make it out of this forest, and get to the next city, but I think we should battle every trainer we can find first!" May pointed out.

"G-good point, I'll keep looking for them!" Wally said, obliviously.

May frowned a little, as she was subtly hinting that they should battle, but she decided that she really should look for other trainers to train against first, since she knew that Ralts was a force to be reckoned with by now. She walked around the forest, defeating any pokémon that she encountered, until she encountered one that caught her attention. She hadn't seen this one before, so it must've been rare.

She pulled out her Pokédex to examine it, and learned that it was a Slakoth, which evolved into Vigoroth, one of the pokémon her father uses. With relative ease, May managed to catch the Slakoth. "_Strength comes in numbers…_" she thought as she examined the pokéball.

Now she had two pokémon. She was given the Exp. Share previously, so training it would not likely be a problem. She set off to look for trainers and strengthen her Slakoth.

After a few trainers and many wild pokémon were defeated, she was feeling pretty confident with her team's ability to battle. Her Slakoth had learned 'Feint Attack' by the end of the training session. Because her Grovyle was already quite powerful, May did not feel the need to train it much at all.

* * *

She set off to look for Wally, whose Ralts was effortlessly defeating a Cascoon. Before she made her presence known, she examined him. Wally was standing more confidently and shouting commands easily. He scarcely stuttered when he was training alone.

"_I guess it's just social anxiety._" May thought. "Heya, Wally!" May shouted, making him jump again, at which she giggled.

"Y-you gotta st-stop scaring me like that!" Wally said, exasperated. "H-hey, Ralts just l-learned 'Magical Leaf!'"

May raised her eyebrows. "Wow! I bet it's grown a lot then! I wonder how strong it is!" May said, hinting that she wants to battle.

"V-very! I b-b-bet Ralts c-could even beat y-your Grovyle!" Wally said, struggling. He was evidently not used to taunting people, and May noted how cute it was that he was trying his best to do so.

"Oh? We'll see about that, Wally! Go, Grovyle!" May shouted as she let out her starter. Wally was clearly very nervous, but he tried to steel his nerves as he sent out Ralts.

* * *

Both pokémon were very experienced, especially in comparison to the average power the wild pokémon of the forest had. Unfortunately for Wally and Ralts, because Grovyle had evolved from Treecko, it was faster than Ralts. Not that it mattered at first. "Quick Attack, now!" May ordered. The Grovyle vanished and reappeared directly in front of Ralts, before Ralts could attack.

"Dodge it, Ralts!" Wally ordered, and order which the Ralts was barely able to follow as the 'Quick Attack' hardly missed. "Follow it with a confusion!" he said as Ralts sent a psychic wave to Grovyle, hurting it.

"Grovyle, use Mega Drain!" May said quickly. Grovyle made a vacuum with its mouth, absorbing some health from Ralts to recover itself, causing Wally to get nervous.

"R-Ralts, use Confusion again!" he commanded, and Ralts sent the psychic wave again towards it.

"Use Quick Attack before Ralts can attack again!" May commanded. But as Grovyle went to attack Ralts, it stumbled and fell flat on its face.

"_Yes, it's confused!_" Wally thought. "We can finish this, hurry up and use one more Confusion!"

Ralts did so and ended up knocking Grovyle out. Wally was jumping with joy, hugging his exhausted Ralts.

"It's a little too early to celebrate, Wally!" May said, and Wally tilted his head in confusion. "B-but I-" Wally was cut off by May as she sent out her Slakoth. Wally was suddenly very nervous. He didn't think his Ralts could handle much more; if even the initial Quick Attack from Grovyle had landed, Ralts likely would have fainted by now.

* * *

"What's wrong, Wally? Let's fight!" May said, taunting him a little this time.

Wally again steeled himself and set Ralts down. "F-fine! Ralts, quick, use Disarming Voice!"

"Slakoth, dodge it!" May ordered. The Slakoth, though usually very slow, dashed to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, the Slakoth could not dodge it, as the move cannot be dodged by anything. May grinded her teeth a little and ordered "Retaliate with a Feint Attack!"

"Ralts, quick, don't let it hit you!" Wally begged. Unfortunately, like 'Disarming Voice,' 'Feint Attack' cannot be dodged. The Ralts dashed from side to side, but the Slakoth appeared from behind it in the shadows to deal the coup de grâce. With one slash, Ralts toppled over and fainted. Wally picked it up, and fought off tears. "C-c-congratul-lations…" he said to May. He was not mad at her at all, he was just frustrated that he lost.

"Hey, Wally." May said to get his attention, as he had just turned around to go to the Pokémon Center. "You did amazing, you really have gotten stronger!" She said.

Wally did not turn around, for tears were now streaming down his face. He was no longer sad or frustrated, he was happy because he realized that he truly was becoming stronger. Even after being out for so long, his body was only now becoming fatigued. He nodded in thanks, as he didn't want May to know he was crying, and he walked off toward the Pokémon Center.

* * *

May let him go. She could tell that he was crying and needed to be alone for a bit. She followed soon after though, because Wally's Ralts had dealt a devastating blow to both of her pokémon. By the time she arrived, Wally was just walking out of the bathroom. "H-hey! Sorry if y-you were waiting on me!"

"It's fine, I have to heal my pokémon too, and I didn't feel like waiting until we got to Rustboro!" May explained, and Wally nodded in acknowledgement. May dropped off her pokémon and used the bathroom herself.

After her pokémon were healed, the two traveled back to Route 104, then Petalburg Woods, then back onto Route 104 again. They both easily defeated all the trainers they encountered. Together, they effortlessly made it to Rustboro City.

Though neither of them were mind readers, and it wasn't discussed beforehand, they both knew what came next- the Gym Leader.


	5. The Thief

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 5:

Rustboro City was bustling with activity as the two arrived at the Pokémon Center.

Ralts, Grovyle, and Slakoth were all in near perfect health, but the two trainers knew that they could not take the risk of progressing without healing. After handing the pokémon off to Nurse Joy, the two sat down for a moment to collect their thoughts.

"S-so we_ are _going to the Gym next, r-right?" Wally asked.

May nodded her head in response. She hated to admit it, but she was actually a little nervous for the upcoming battle with the Gym Leader. "H-hey, you'll do really well!" Wally said, noticing how May was acting differently.

May couldn't help but smile at the boy's enthusiasm. "Yeah, you're right! Our pokémon are all really powerful!" she replied.

The two collected their pokémon from Nurse Joy and headed towards the Gym. They read the signs outside and took note of the 'Rock- Type' theme that it had. "S-so Ralts and Grovyle will just w-win with Grass moves!" Wally said, very motivated.

* * *

Together, they walked in to challenge the entire Gym. One after another, they battled against the gym members, each of which had a Geodude or two. Because they are Gym members, when their pokémon fainted against one trainer, they were healed again before another trainer could battle them. They both easily made it to Roxanne, the leader.

"Alright, prepare to be thoroughly educated on the Rock typing!" She yelled to each of the trainers. May battled against her first, Wally just barely lagging behind.

May sent out Slakoth, as Roxanne sent out Geodude.

Wally sent out Ralts, as Roxanne sent out Geodude.

Against Slakoth, the Geodude seemed to be a wall. Slakoth did not know any useful moves with which to counter Geodude's typing. As a result, Grovyle was thrown out to replace Slakoth. As Grovyle emerged from its pokéball, it was hit with a 'Rock Tomb.' Hundreds of rocks seemed to fall from the ceiling, landing on Grovyle. Due to Grovyle's typing and strength, he was able to easily shrug them off. He countered with an 'Absorb,' restoring his HP to full and almost defeating Geodude.

Instead of following up with another 'Rock Tomb,' Roxanne used her turn to heal Geodude, in hopes that he may not faint just yet. Unfortunately for her, May commanded another 'Absorb' from Grovyle, finishing the Geodude off with ease.

Ralts' battle against the Geodude was very similar. It only took two 'Magical Leaf' attacks to take down the Gym Leader's first pokémon. Once Nosepass was thrown into battle, it was a similar story. The type advantage of the moves and the sheer strength of the pokémon made the battle incredibly easy. After the battle had ended, each of the trainers received their first Gym Badges. It was almost as if a whole new world of opportunity had opened itself to them. They suddenly felt endowed with the confidence that collecting all 8 Gym Badges would be no problem to them at all.

As Wally was battling, May was on the sidelines, cheering him on. She knew Ralts would have no trouble defeating the two pokémon, but she wanted to bolster Wally's growing confidence. As Wally went to receive his badge, May noticed something happening to Ralts. "Uh, Wally! Look at your pokémon!" she shouted. Wally turned around, and jumped back. Ralts bean glowing so bright that Wally, May, and Roxanne had to shield their eyes.

"W-woah! What's g-going on?" he said, shocked and confused. But the question was answered before May could speak up. Ralts had just evolved. May and Wally both gasped; they had never seen what Ralts looked like in its evolved form. The two brought out their Pokédexes and examined it, while Roxanne was giggling to herself at their reactions.

"Kirlia, Kir!" the pokémon shouted triumphantly. Wally stared in amazement, then walked up to it slowly. "Ralts, you're now a…" he began, but Kirlia cut in by shouting its name, confirming what Wally was going to say before he even said it.

Wally couldn't help but smile. He kneeled down and hugged the Kirlia, who returned the hug immediately.

* * *

The trainers walked down to the Pokémon Center before trying to find out where to go next. "Congratulations, Wally!" May said cheerfully.

"Thank you! Y-you and your pokémon did amazing!" Wally said just as cheerfully.

May smiled brightly at him as the two handed their pokéballs to Nurse Joy. "_He barely stuttered just then… It's still so early, yet he's progressed so much!_" she thought to herself, very proud of Wally.

* * *

After their pokémon were all happy and healthy, the two started to walk North to see what the enormous city had to offer. Almost immediately, though, they found trouble. The same man with the lab coat was pacing, clearly on edge. Wally, recognizing him, spoke up. "W-what happened?"

The man turned to face Wally and his expression turned from worry to joy. "Oh thank Arceus, you're the remarkable young trainer who saved me last night!" he grasped Wally's hand. "Young man, you must help me again… another one of those scoundrels has taken something from me. This time, some parts from Devon Corporation's latest designs have been taken! Please, get them back to me!" he begged. "He went east, towards Whismur Cave!" he said, pointing in the direction that the burglar went.

May raised an eyebrow, as she was about to protest the idea of Wally being ordered around like this. Wally, however, eagerly agreed to help and motioned for May to follow him. May frowned a bit but shrugged it off. She didn't want to stop Wally, he was on a roll. As the two made their way towards the cave, they battled every pokémon and trainer they encountered. Of course, their original pokémon were much too powerful to be affected very much, but May's Slakoth could benefit greatly from the experience.

* * *

The two made it to the entrance of Whismur Cave, where an older gentleman was staring into it, shellshocked. May spoke up, "What happened, sir?" The man broke out of his daze and turned towards May. "He stole my Peeko…" May spoke up again, reassuring the man that the two would rescue whichever pokémon he was talking about.

They ran into the cave, where they were careful not to disturb any of the Whismurs. Though they never came into direct contact with any, Wally was very creeped out with how they looked, so the two thought it was best not to even attempt contact. They made their way into the cave and found a man in a blue outfit, fending himself off from an angry Wingull.

"Psst! Is this the guy that scientist was talking about?" May whispered to Wally.

Wally nodded his head. "It has to be."

"Alright. I'll battle against him, and you go grab the Wingull and move it out of here. I'm sure that's the pokémon that was stolen." May explained, and Wally nodded. "And if you see anything that looks like the Devon thingy, grab that too."

Wally nodded again, and they prepared to execute the plan. "Go, Slakoth!" May shouted as she sent out the feisty, yet lazy, pokémon. The man in blue turned around immediately and snarled. "Grr, if it's a battle ya want, it's a battle you'll get!" He sent out what a pokémon that May recognized to be the first pokémon her Treecko had faced. She took out her Pokédex to identify it, and as she learned that it's a Poochyena, it attacked Slakoth with a Bite. "Hey, no fair!" May said as the man simply laughed. She retorted by ordering that Slakoth used 'Slash.'

* * *

Wally was creeping along the wall, doing his best to hide behind natural pillars and stalagmites. He was in the zone, he was only a little nervous. He had confidence in May's battling ability, but he did not quite feel fully confident in his own sneaking ability. He was close to the man, who was still too preoccupied with the battle and the Wingull, that he now was holding by a wing. Wally also saw a trinket on the ground near the man's feet, which he suspected to be the Devon part. He was starting to get more and more nervous. Wally was behind the man at this point, so he knew he could easily get the Devon part. But rescuing Wingull would prove more challenging.

May was clearly stalling in the battle so that Wally would have time to grab Wingull and the parts. She ended up switching out to Grovyle, since Slakoth had almost fainted from how long Wally was taking, and how few physical attacks she had it do to the Poochyena. "_Come on, Wally. Please, I know you can do this!_" she thought, wishing Wally would get it done already.

Wally very quietly reached down to grab the Devon parts. He quickly stored them in his pocket, and he slowly reached over to the Wingull to try and release it from the man's grasp. The Wingull's eyes darted open, and it started to flail around even more, so that Wally would have an easier time taking it out of the man's hand. However, this only made the man turn and see Wally. "_Uh oh…_" was Wally's last thought before the man let Wingull out of his hand and used it instead to punch Wally in the face.

Wally was not knocked out, but he was on the floor, wincing in pain. "Wally!" May shouted, as she ordered Grovyle to quickly end the battle and scare the man away from her injured friend. Wingull was let go, and flew back outside, presumably to go back to its master, and the man was out of pokémon. Grovyle used its long arms and brute strength to throw the man out of Whismur Cave. He landed hard, and fled the scene. May wanted to chase him, but she had to make sure Wally was okay.

Wally had tears in his eyes from the pain. He did his best not to let them fall, but he couldn't help it. May sat down and examined his face with a flashlight. "Are you okay, Wally?" she asked as she was now shining the light inside his mouth, checking for any missing teeth.

"Ahh." Wally said (meaning "Yeah."). He had a bruise on his left cheek from where the man hit him, but he was not bleeding or missing any teeth, so he was safe to continue traveling.

* * *

The two left the cave and returned the missing parts to the scientist, who thanked them dearly, and expressed concern for Wally regarding the bruise. "Here, come with me, you two! I'm certain Mr. Stone will want to thank you!" May and Wally looked at each other, and May shrugged. "Yes sir." they both said as they followed him.

The scientist lead them into the largest building in the city, the Headquarters of the Devon Corporation. Inside, they had to go up several flights of stairs, which left Wally winded. "M-May, y-you go see what the P-President has to say, I'm gonna w-wait over here in th-this chair…" He said, to which May frowned but agreed.

May had to keep being reminded that Wally was very limited, and she couldn't expect everything that is easy for her to be easy for him. Even things like going up stairs, jogging, carrying a backpack around, or wearing too many layers could make him lose his breath.

May waited outside for a moment, as the scientist went in to explain everything to Mr. Stone. He came back out and led May inside. In the middle of the room, closer to the wall, a man with spiky silver hair sat at a desk, looking at May and the scientist. "I understand that you're one of the trainers who secured the parts to our latest project from a scoundrel?"

May nodded. "The other one is just outside, but he-" May started.

"No need, I won't try to force anyone to come in here. I'm very thankful towards you and the boy sitting outside, you have my deepest gratitude. Now let me ask you, are you planning on facing every Gym Leader in Hoenn?" he questioned, and May answered by nodding. "Excellent, then you must be a very skilled trainer. I suppose you are going to look for the second gym?" May nodded again. "That gym is in Dewford, I suggest you ask the sailor who lives on Route 104 for assistance in your travels there."

May's face lit up, as she knew where she and Wally were heading next. "Thank you very much, sir!"

"Of course. But I have something to ask of you. I hate to ask for a favor after you just bravely helped return the parts to me. But you see, my son is on the island somewhere, and I need you to bring him this letter." Mr. Stone showed May the letter. "His name is Steven, I'm certain he'll be somewhere, looking at minerals…"

May cocked her head in confusion about the last remark, but ignored it. "Alright, I'll be sure to give it to him when Wally and I get there!" she said as she took the letter from Mr. Stone and said her goodbyes to him and the scientist.

* * *

Once outside the room, she explained everything to Wally, who was brimming with excitement. "I get to go on a boat?!" He asked, overjoyed.

"That's the plan!" May answered, and the two slowly made their way downstairs and outside the building. Wally was huffing some more, but he denied it when May asked about it. He did not want to sit down again just yet, he wanted to tough it out this time. "_He's so cute when he tries to be tough…_" May thought as they exited the building. Outside, there was another boy, seemingly waiting for the two.

"Brendan?" May called out, as she and Wally approached him.

"In the flesh!" he replied, charismatically.


	6. The Future Champion

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 6:

Brendan felt like he had met the two trainers at an awkward time, or at least things seemed very strange when he approached them.

Brendan had never met Wally, but it was apparent that he was traveling with May. It had looked like May just got done beating the boy before coming over to greet him. Brendan of course did not believe that to be true, but he was curious as to what happened.

"May, are you gonna introduce me to your friend?" Brendan asked playfully.

"Wally, this is Brendan. He is my next door neighbor, a skilled trainer, and somewhat a friendly rival! Brendan, this is Wally. He's very shy, but he's an incredible trainer!" May explained.

Brendan stepped forward to shake Wally's hand. He was a little surprised to hear that Wally was a good trainer, due to his pale complexion and skinny frame. "_Well, I suppose his physical weaknesses don't really have any correlation with skills as a trainer…_" Brendan thought, correcting himself somewhat.

Wally nervously shook Brendan's hand. Though Wally had gotten better posture and slightly better endurance, he was still far below a normal height or weight for a boy his age. Brendan was almost a foot taller than him, and that alone was enough to intimidate Wally, who even avoided eye contact with the other boy.

"So, you're skilled, huh?" Brendan asked after shaking the boy's hand. "Why don't I see how skilled you are then?" Brendan said confidently. He did not mean it as a direct challenge to May's assertion that Wally was, in fact, skilled. Brendan simply wanted to compare his skill to Wally's. However, unbeknownst to Wally and May, Brendan had spent even more time training his pokémon than either of the two, so he would prove to be quite a daunting foe.

Wally nervously nodded. "S-sure, I'll b-battle you!" he said, using every bit of confidence he could muster. May simply sat down on the side lines. "_This should be fun to watch, and I can challenge him right after!_" she thought.

* * *

Wally sent out his Kirlia. As he saw that Brendan had two pokéballs, he suddenly realized that he should attempt to add another member to his team soon. Brendan followed Wally's lead and sent out a small, brown and green pokémon, which surprised both May and Wally. "W-what's that?" Wally asked curiously as he got out his Pokédex. "Huh, a Sh-Shroomish!" Wally said.

Wally's curiosity about pokémon impressed Brendan. Brendan had studied Hoenn Pokémon since he was little, but that was normal, as the Professor is his father. He was also aware that very few trainers even cared to learn about pokémon at all. So when Wally pulled out a Pokédex, he felt a small connection with him. He pushed these thoughts away; it was time to battle.

Wally sat down where he was standing, leading Brendan to not yet have Shroomish attack Kirlia and May to voice her concern. "I-I'm okay, I j-just need to sit for a minute. We can start b-battling though!" Wally reassured Brendan. Brendan started to feel bad. "_Am I about to battle this sickly boy with the full intention of beating him?_" he thought. But Wally didn't give him any choice, as he shouted for Kirlia to use 'Confusion,' sending a psychic wave to the Shroomish. Brendan was taken aback, he did not expect Kirlia to be as strong as it was. Shroomish was hurt, but it had not yet fainted. "Shroomish, counter it with a 'Headbutt!'" Brendan shouted, prompting the tiny Grass-Type pokémon to charge at Kirlia and bash into its head with its own head, which was essentially its entire body.

Kirlia was not hurt very badly, so Wally ordered another 'Confusion,' but as Kirlia started to send out psychic waves, Shroomish was taken back, and another pokémon, one that was covered in yellow and red feathers, stood in its place, taking the full force of the attack. "W-what?" Wally said, confused. He whipped out his pokédex, but Brendan spoke before Wally could read the information of the pokémon. "This is Combusken. I have to say, Wally, if Kirlia had managed to knock him out just now, you would have won. But it seems like I am the winner!" Brendan said triumphantly. Wally frustratedly stood up from his sitting position and yelled for another 'Confusion,' but as he did so, Brendan yelled for Combusken to use 'Flame Charge.' Unfortunately for Wally and Kirlia, Combusken was much faster.

Brendan's Combusken was wrapped in a robe of fire, and tackled Kirlia full force. Kirlia wasn't even able to use 'Confusion.' It was knocked out instantly. "W-what? No!" Wally cried out as he rushed to his pokémon's aide. He held it Kirlia in his arms, sighing. He then returned it to its pokéball, and prepared to walk to the Pokémon Center. "Hey, don't feel so Blue! That was a really close match, Kirlia almost took Combusken out in one hit!" Brendan said, trying to cheer Wally up. It worked, and Wally smiled. "I-I'm putting too much p-pressure on one pokémon… I think I need to start to b-build up my team. Wh-when I do, I want a rematch!" Wally said confidently! Brendan nodded, very glad that he was able to face, and will again face, such a tough opponent. The two shook hands, and Wally and Brendan were now rivals.

* * *

May stood up and clapped. "That was beautiful, you two!" she said. Wally blushed and Brendan chuckled. "If you say so." he said. "How about we all go to the Pokémon Center, and after all our pokémon are healed, you and I battle?" Brendan challenged May. May was not one to back out of a challenge. "Yeah, you're going down!"

The three walked down to the Pokémon Center, delightfully chatting amongst themselves about the battle that just happened. "Because it's a Psychic-Type move, that 'Confusion' was a lot closer to winning you the battle than you think!" Brendan explained. "R-right, but Combusken used a F-Fire-Type move, which is s-super effective, right?" Wally asked. "Yeah, it was honestly a sight to see!" May added. "You two were both using super effective moves, it was enthralling!" They eventually entered the Pokémon Center and had their pokémon healed. As they chatted, Wally could not help but think to himself, "_I've made another friend!_" It was finally happening; he was blooming socially. He was finally finding it easy to talk to people he had just met.

* * *

They exited from the Pokémon Center and walked down Route 104, joking and chatting, before Wally brought up, "H-hey, weren't you two going to b-battle?" Brendan and May looked at each other, realizing that they had both completely forgotten about battling. They laughed about it for a few seconds before getting ready to battle.

"Alright Brendan, are you ready to taste defeat?" May said, as if she was certain of her victory.

Brendan was entirely prepared to taste the opposite. He knew that his Combusken would easily defeat her Grass type, which he assumed to be a Grovyle by now. The only thing that worried Brendan was her second pokéball, as he was unsure what pokémon lied within. "Try me!" he challenged as he threw out his Shroomish.

May threw out her Grovyle first. She wanted to do as much damage as possible in the lowest amount of time. May had a wild plan, and she was hoping to set up everything in order for it to work out correctly. She had Grovyle use 'Quick Attack.' As Grovyle dashed at Shroomish and hit it hard, it was stuck in place right afterwards. "Ha! Grovyle is paralyzed!" Brendan taunted as he ordered his badly hurt Shroomish to 'Headbutt,' the paralyzed Grovyle. "_Ok, minor setback, but Grovyle may still be able to move!_" May thought with hope.

"Quick, Grovyle, use Pursuit!" May ordered, as she could tell that Brendan was going to withdraw his Shroomish as he did in the previous battle. "Too bad, Shroomish is already- _what the?_" Brendan said as his pokémon was knocked out of the air in the midst of returning to its pokéball. "Yes! Good job, Grovyle! I knew even being paralyzed couldn't stop you!" May cheered. She withdrew Grovyle as Brendan withdrew his Shroomish. They both prepared to throw out their second pokémon.

Wally was watching in amazement. The two trainers not only had incredibly strong pokémon, but they were clearly prodigious battlers. It was like watching a high speed Chess match. Both made plans beforehand and adapted to any sort of moves the opponent made and compensated for it as quick as possible to continue following through with the plan. Just watching as the two battled, he thought in reverence, "_One of these two will become the champion one day_."

* * *

May threw out her Slakoth, and Brendan his Combusken. "_A Slakoth?_" Brendan thought to himself. He knew Combusken could easily knock out the Normal-Type pokémon. "_Is this May's last-ditch effort?_" he thought as he shouted, "Combusken, use Double Kick!" It rushed towards the Slakoth and raised its leg, getting prepared to kick. "Now, Slakoth, dodge! And follow it with an encore!" Slakoth miraculously evaded the incredibly swift kicks, and growled loudly at the Combusken, trying to provoke it.

"_I knew it! May's won for sure!_" Wally thought to himself. He could tell now what May was setting up for, and so could Brendan. "No! Combusken, attack Slakoth again!" he ordered. Because Slakoth used 'Encore,' Combusken was forced to use the same move it had before, rendering any order to use a different move obsolete. The Combusken kicked again, this time landing its blows and instantly defeating the Slakoth. "Good work, bud. You just won us this battle." May whispered as she withdrew her defeated pokémon.

"Go, Grovyle!" she yelled as she sent out her Grass-Type. The still paralyzed pokémon was sent out, and Combusken was still prepared to use 'Double-Kick.' May quickly used a 'Paralyze Heal' on Grovyle, who was immediately after kicked twice. It hurt Grovyle, but it was nothing serious. "Alright, Grovyle! Use Mega Drain!" May ordered.

"_What? But Grass-Type moves are weak to Fire-Type pokémon!_" Wally thought. But Grovyle managed to heal a little HP while doing a little damage. "_Perfect._" May thought, and she continued ordering this attack, while Combusken was still forced to use 'Double Kick.' Over all, Grovyle was slowly losing HP. 'Double Kick' dealt slightly more damage to it than 'Mega Drain' could heal. But no matter, May had one last trick up her sleeve.

At the point when the two pokémon were almost unable of the battle, with Grovyle having slightly less HP than Combusken, Brendan's pokémon shook its head, and lowered its leg. "_Oh no… Combusken isn't affected by 'Encore' anymore…_" Wally thought and sighed. The two trainers both shouted at the same time. Brendan shouted, "Flame Charge!" while May shouted, "Quick Attack!"

Before Combusken was able to coat itself in flames, Grovyle dashed, so fast that the human eye could only see it as teleportation, and slashed Combusken with its leaf-appendage. Wally, May, and Brendan held their breaths. If Combusken was not yet defeated, then May would certainly lose. A few seconds went by, though to the trainers, they felt like hours. Brendan's Combusken toppled over, and Grovyle stood victorious. Wally got up and ran over to May, hugging her tightly- or as tight as his little arms could. "Th-that was the most ingenious thing I've ever seen! You're b-brilliant, May!" May hugged him back. "Thank you!" she said aloud. But in her head, she thought, "_I'm just lucky!_" After the hug, Brendan came up to her and shook her hand. "Wally's right, that was ingenious! But next time we battle, I'll be the one with the smart plan!"

* * *

After the two healed their pokémon and returned to Route 104, Brendan had to go; he was on his own adventure and wanted to continue with it. He waved the two goodbye, but Wally was a little sad to see him go. To be fair, he _was_ one of Wally's only friends. Wally ran up to him before he left. "S-since I don't know when I'll s-see you again, c-can I h-hug you goodbye?" he asked politely. Both Brendan and May were taken aback. Brendan wasn't expecting the gesture, and May wasn't expecting Wally to go so far out of his comfort zone. "Yeah, of course, dude!" Brendan said as he hugged Wally not-so tightly, carefully avoiding hurting the skinny teenager.

After the hug, Brendan waved May goodbye and rode off on his Bicycle. Wally sighed, but cheered up when looking at May. "H-hey, so where do we go n-now?" he asked. May giggled. "I love your enthusiasm! We're gonna continue back down Route 104 and look for a sailor!" she responded.

* * *

The two walked through Petalburg Woods briefly before making it back to Route 104 again, where they saw only one house. "This must be the place!" May suggested as she knocked on the door. An elderly man with a Wingull opened the door up. The man's eyes widened and his lips curled to form a smile. "You two!" he exclaimed. "You two are the ones who rushed into Whismur Cave and freed my Peeko!" May and Wally looked at each other. They were so relieved to have found someone they left a good impression on earlier. "I want to thank you for returning my Peeko to me!" the man said as his Wingull, or "Peeko," gave a pleased, "Squawk!"

"We hate to ask this of you, sir-" May started, but the man interrupted by saying "Please, call me Mr. Briney! And if you're going to ask for transportation, I'd be more than happy to help!" Again, May and Wally just stared at one another, in shock at how smoothly things were going.

The three were brought out to the boat. Before entering, Mr. Briney asked "Erm- where exactly do you need me to take you two?" "D-Dewford, please!" Wally answered. Mr. Briney nodded and let them on the boat. "We'll be at Dewford in roughly two hours!" he explained. "You two can walk around the boat, or do whatever you want in the meantime!"

* * *

Wally and May made their way to a bedroom, where May plopped down on a chair, and Wally laid down on the bed. "May, you are r-really an incredible trainer." Wally said, out of the blue. The compliment took May by surprise and made her blush a little. "Thank you, Wally! You are really skilled too!" she said. "You have improved so much since we started, you're noticeably stronger and more confident!" Wally blushed and bashfully asked, "Y-you really think so?..." May giggled. "I know so!"

The two were going back and forth, chatting about all the crazy things that had happened today. "M-May. When I watched your b-battle with B-Brendan, I realized that I knew something for certain." Wally said. May tilted her head. "And what would that be?" she asked.

"That you will be the Pokémon Champion!" Wally responded. May's heart was warmed thoroughly, and small tears were brought to her eyes. Wally was confident enough that what he said was true, that he didn't stutter at all while saying it. May got up and hugged Wally, who hugged her back as best as somebody who was laying down could. "You're so freaking sweet, Wally!" she said. "But I-I'm not trying to be s-sweet, it's j-just true!" he said, embarrassed from the compliment. May giggled and sat back down. She couldn't help but find reactions like that adorable, especially from him. He would get so bashful and blush so much, it made her want to give him compliments even more often.

* * *

The two chatted a bit more, but Wally slowly got drowsier and drowsier during the progression of the conversation, and eventually fell asleep. Though May also found that cute, she was a little irked, because she wanted to sleep too, and Wally was on the bed.

She shrugged her shoulders and got onto the bed. It was a large bed, and he was close enough to the right side for May to sleep comfortably on the left side. As she tried to sleep, she stared at Wally's features. "_Even though he is super small, he is pretty attractive…_" May thought as she closed her eyes.

Wally woke up just under an hour later, and started blushing as warm as Brendan's Combusken would get when it uses 'Flame Charge.' May was not only sleeping right next to him, _she had one of her arms wrapped around him._


	7. No Stone Unturned

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 7:

Wally held still, worried that he might wake May up if he were to move around too much, even though he was embarrassed and nervous about the whole sleeping situation. "_When did she even get on the bed?_" Wally thought, racking his brain for any memories of that. He of course, could not find any. Wally generally was thankful of his illness only for the reason that it let him sleep for much longer than the average human, but for the first time, the amount of sleep he was getting annoyed him. He didn't suspect that May was did this on purpose, but he wished that he was awake for it, so he could have avoided the awkward situation entirely.

"_But would I have stopped her from coming so close?_" Wally pondered. Wally could see attractive features of both boys and girls, but these features almost exclusively intimidated Wally. Wally naturally found May attractive and intimidating. But instead of avoiding Wally, who obviously was too scared to let attractive people (or people at all) into his personal space, she barged her way into it. She had given him more hugs than anyone other than his parents ever had. Because of this, Wally felt closer to May than anyone else, and the closeness became endearing to him. But this did not mean that he wasn't nervous each time they hugged. Right now especially, Wally was antsy and wanted to break from May's embrace, but he was too polite to even wake her instead, he tried to clear his mind and go back to sleep.

A few minutes passed of Wally having his eyes shut and trying to sleep, when suddenly Mr. Briney announced over the ship's intercom, "We'll be arriving at Dewford in five minutes! Get ready!" That was enough to wake May up. She quickly moved her arm off of Wally, who was pretending to be asleep to avoid the awkward situation entirely.

"_Oh crap, I don't remember doing that…_" May thought as she put on her shoes. "_I hope he didn't even notice that I got on the bed with him…_"

Wally was pretending to be asleep until May decided to wake him up. In reality, this was realistic because he was a pretty heavy sleeper. But May was feeling embarrassed, and was certainly taking her time to "wake him up." Eventually though, she shook him, and he lazily got up from the bed. The two thanked Mr. Briney and departed from the ship to head into Dewford.

* * *

"Alright, so our first priority is to find a man by the name of Steven Stone!" May brought up to break the silence. "He should be looking around rocks, so I'm guessing he's either on the beach or in a cave!"

Wally nodded; he figured that they would have to split up to find Steven, but May insisted they travel together. "Since we only have one letter to give him, we can't risk splitting up!" May explained, and Wally nodded again. First, they checked the closest area- the beach. There were both people and stones scattered around, but none of the former seemed particularly interested in the latter.

"L-look, there's a c-cave up ahead!" Wally pointed out, and the two made their way over to it. The two sent out their pokémon to follow along, for protection, and May set Slakoth on her shoulder. Inside the cave, it was quite dark, but May turned on a flashlight to properly see. Once the cave was lit up, Wally jumped back. "Wh-what is that?" he asked, pointing to a short, yellow pokémon. It seemed to be smiling at the two in a way that deeply unsettled Wally. "Hmm, lemme see!" May said as she drew her Pokédex out and scanned the pokémon. "It's a Makuhita, a Fighting-Type pokémon!"

Wally just shrugged. He knew he had to get a new pokémon soon, but he wanted the pokémon to feel right to him. He wanted to feel a connection with the pokémon, and it couldn't be the connection of its fist hitting him. However, that is exactly what the Makuhita tried to do. "H-hey!" Wally cried out as Kirlia jumped in the way, taking the blow for Wally. Due to Kirlia's typing and experience, the punch was not particularly damaging. It did, however, scare the daylights out of Wally. "_I almost got punched for the second time today…_" he thought, and he ordered Kirlia to use 'Confusion' on the Makuhita, defeating it.

"You alright?" May asked Wally, as she could tell that he was shaken up from it. "I-I'll be fine, I need t-to get used to wild p-pokémon attacking me." Wally replied. He was disappointed that he even had to get used to something like that. Even though he was an unpopular loner in school, and he would be picked on, nobody ever attacked him out of the blue like that. But he had to accept that pokémon are wild and unpredictable. He stared at Kirlia and thought "_Well, most pokémon are…_"

* * *

The two spotted an upward slope, and May prepared to dash up to the top of it. As she began sprinting up, she realized that the slope was made of very loose sand, and it could not be ran up. "Woah!" she said as she began to fall, but Wally caught her just in time, using his arms to support her back. "I've got you!" Wally said without stuttering, as May's body was around 50 degrees to the ground, with Wally supporting it. "Wally, thank you!" she said as she dusted her legs off. "You're like a hero!" May said with a bright smile. Wally's heart warmed from the fact that she called him a hero, especially since he suddenly felt like one.

The two walked down the main path, dodging and battling Zubats and Makuhitas. The path led only to one room. The two were skeptical that Steven would be inside, but they could leave no _stone_ unturned.

* * *

Wally and May entered the room. Within the long room, at the top of a staircase, was a tall man with silver hair. The two withdrew Kirlia, Grovyle, and Slakoth, respectively so that they didn't startle the distracted man. He was staring at the wall, which had an ancient painting depicting two monstrous pokémon fighting each other. One was upright and appeared to use fire, while the other did not even stand and appeared to use water. "This guy has hair like Mr. Stone," May whispered to Wally. "He might be Steven." As if on cue, the man turned around and looked at the two. "What terrible power, right?" he asked. The two just stared blankly. "What do you mean?" May piped up, as Wally decided to let May handle the talking. "Ah, I'm sorry. You two must not be residents of Dewford. My apologies, I was just commenting on the cave painting." he said as he stared at it again. "We're here to look for a Steven, could that be you?" May asked.

The man turned to look at them once more. "Yes, I am Steven, Steven Stone. Who are you?" he asked. "My name is May, and this is Wally." May gestured at Wally, who just shyly smiled and waved. "We were sent by your father to deliver a letter." Steven smiled and stepped closer, extending his hand to receive the letter. "I see, thank you two very much. What exactly brought you trainers to Dewford?" he asked. "We want to get all eight Gym Badges!" Wally spoke up, before May could. Steven smiled. "How charming! I take it that you two are quite skilled trainers then, yes?" The two looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess we are, for how new to it we are!" May explained.

"Then could I perhaps see your teams?" Steven asked. "I see so many experienced trainers use the same few pokémon, it would be refreshing to see what you new trainers have caught." May shrugged her shoulders and sent out her Grovyle and Slakoth. "Ahh, two fine choices. I can tell you have put much effort into training each of these pokémon, especially your Grovyle." May smiled. "Thank you! It was my very first pokémon, so it's had more experience than Slakoth." Steven rubbed his chin. "I take it that Slakoth is just as important in a battle though?" Steven asked, and May nodded. "Your pokémon are quite impressive, May."

"And what about you- was it Wally?" Steven asked, and Wally nodded in response. "I o-only have one pokémon, but it's really st-strong!" Wally said as he sent out Kirlia. Steven squatted down to get a closer look at Kirlia, who simply stared back at Steven. Steven stood back up and looked Wally in the eyes. "I can tell that this pokémon is not one to be taken lightly. It is incredibly powerful, and I can tell you treat this pokémon not just as a servant, but as a friend. That is why you only have one pokémon." Steven said, as if he were reading from a book. Wally stood, astonished. "Th-that's a good way to put it." Wally said as he stared at Kirlia. "I j-just haven't found another p-pokémon that is so f-friendly…"

Steven nodded. "Well, Wally, you must make yourself friendly to the pokémon before it is friendly to you, and even still, it is rare for most wild pokémon to be amicable to trainers upon first encountering each other. Usually, trainers just use their own pokémon to attack others, and catch them when they are weak." he explained. Wally was repeating what Steven said in his head, as if trying to memorize it. "_His advice is important,_" Wally thought. He could tell that Steven was a skilled trainer, and he wanted to take his words to heart. "Th-thank you, sir!" Wally said with a bow, and May followed suit. Steven chuckled and said, "No need for the formality, please. And you can call me Steven!" He gestured to Wally. "I suggest you think about what I told you. With more pokémon, you would be unstoppable." He then gestured towards May. "You have the right idea, your team is incredibly impressive. Thank you two for bringing me this letter, but I must be on my way." he said as he began walking out. "Take care, and I wish you the best of luck on your journeys. Next time our paths cross, I hope I am even more impressed than I am now." With that, he left the cave.

* * *

Wally and May just stared at each other. They were both starstruck by Steven. He was tall, handsome, wise, and perhaps more. "I get the feeling that Steven is a Gym Leader for some city." May said. "Wh-what makes you think that?" Wally asked. May shrugged, and said, "I don't know, I guess it's that I've heard that Gym Leaders all have such powerful personalities… it was almost like I could _see_ that he's strong." Wally couldn't help but agree. He was wondering why he took Steven's advice so quickly, but May just put Wally's feelings into words.

Wally and May both felt a bit embarrassed. Though Wally was by no means attracted to him, he was in awe of Steven's looks, wisdom, and personality. It was almost as if when Wally looked at Steven, he was looking at an ideal man. Wally didn't know what to feel, but he certainly didn't want to discuss it in front of May, who he was absolutely certain that he thought was pretty. May was embarrassed for almost the same reason. She wasn't attracted to Steven, but she certainly found him attractive, though in a different way than she found Wally to be attractive.

The two walked out of the cave, and Steven was nowhere to be found; he had flown away on a pokémon of his own. "Do you think he was just a ghost?" May said jokingly. Wally knew it was a joke, but he shivered at the thought of being so close to a ghost. "Y-yikes, I sure hope n-not…" They both laughed, and they continued walking.

* * *

They went to the Pokémon Center to heal their pokémon, who had taken slight damage from Makuhitas and Zubats, and walked to the Pokémon Gym. Inside, it was almost pitch black. A man spoke up from the shadows, startling Wally and May, saying, "Yo! Champs in the making, this is Brawly's gym! It's dark, but you can battle to see the correct path! And also, only one at a time please!"

The two entered separately, but they had an easy time battling through the Gym Members. Wally and Kirlia especially had an easy time, since Kirlia could defeat them with one single 'Confusion.' As they battled each Gym Member, the path they had to take was lit up, so that the trainers didn't stumble over any gym equipment. Upon finally coming face to face with Brawly, he said to each of the two trainers: "I hope your blood is pumping, cause my pokémon have faced the strength of the ocean tides and used the gym equipment around me! Are you ready?"

* * *

Wally was the first one to go through the gym, so he was the first to face Brawly. Brawly's first pokémon was one from Kanto. Wally immediately identified it as a Machop, which is a powerful fighting type. Wally and Kirlia had no problems defeating it, due to its typing. The same went for Brawly's second, and last, pokémon, which Wally recognized it as a Makuhita. "Yes! Kirlia, it's the one we saw in the cave!" he said, remembering the wild pokémon that attacked him. "Use Confusion!" Wally commanded, and Kirlia obeyed. The battle, like the other battles of this gym, was over for Wally almost as soon as it began. "Congratulations, young man. You've earned this Gym Badge!" Brawly said, as he handed the badge over to an ecstatic Wally.

May took more time in completing the Gym's challenges. May's pokémon did not have any moves that were Super Effective against Fighting-Type pokémon, and she kept switching between Slakoth and Grovyle. Slakoth took no damage, and thankfully Grovyle took very little. May confidently walked up to the Gym Leader, who was on a treadmill while waiting for the challenger. When he saw may, he hopped off and repeated what he said to Wally, but to May.

May initially had her Slakoth out, so it could hopefully do some damage before she switched out to Grovyle. Unfortunately, she learned the hard way that Dark-Type moves, like Slakoth's 'Feint Attack,' are not very effective. Slakoth had to be returned, and Grovyle had to 'Mega Drain' its way to victory against the Machop and the Makuhita. Wally was outside, worried that she was having a hard time against Brawly, but she was just held up by the lack of variation of move-types her pokémon have. She did, however, defeat Brawly and end up the victor.

"C-congratulations, May!" Wally said, and May thanked him. "You and Kirlia absolutely destroyed the Gym Challenge, it was a breeze for you two! You two did way better!" she said. Wally blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Th-thank you! I'm sure your p-pokémon would easily outperform us in any other gym…"

* * *

The two walked to the Pokémon Center, and healed up their three collective pokémon. "H-hey, May? Where do we sl-sleep for the night? It's getting pretty l-late, and I didn't see any s-secret bases…" Wally brought up. May rubbed her chin thoughtfully and said, "I know, we can ask Mr. Briney if we can sleep on the boat!" Wally shivered a bit, without making a face. He was worried that they'd be put in an awkward situation again if they slept in that room again…

The two walked around the pier, looking for Mr. Briney. They found him in front of a cottage, playing with Peeko, and they asked him. "Ho-ho, so you two need to stay the night on the boat? Feel free to!" he said while stroking his beard. "B-but Mr. Briney, where will y-you sleep?" Wally said in a both timid and concerned tone. "I get to stay at this cottage for free when I visit Dewford, one of the perks of having been a sailor!" Mr. Briney said with a hearty chuckle.

* * *

The two made their way to the boat and into the bedroom. It was like a secret base, except it had only one bed and actually had a doored-off bathroom. "Dibs on the shower!" May called out, giggling. "N-no fair!" Wally said as he tried to get into the bathroom before May, but he was met with a door being shut. Wally decided to just nap until May got out of the shower. To avoid the aforementioned awkward situation, Wally got a blanket and laid down on the floor. He was asleep almost immediately.

After a few minutes, the water turned off, and May came out, wearing a towel. She saw Wally on the floor, and she realized immediately why he was sleeping there. "_I shouldn't wake him up right now._" she thought as she dried her hair off. May crawled onto the bed, and realized how uncomfortable Wally must've been on the floor. "_Okay, maybe I should…_" May thought, as she reached over to shake the sleeping boy awake.

Wally woke up, but was very drowsy. "Shower time?" he asked groggily as he got off of the floor and walked into the bathroom. The water ran for a few minutes, and he stepped out, with a towel around his waist. His eyes were nearly shut, and he was half asleep. "Wally!" May said to the sleepy teenager. "Hmm?" he said dreamily and grabbed some underwear and shorts. May blushed, but she just looked away. "_Clearly he is too tired to think clearly…_"

Wally put on his clothes, except a shirt of course, and walked over to the bed, plopped onto it next to May, and fell back asleep. May blushed. "The confidence of that boy…" she whispered to herself. She turned around to face the other direction, or else she would be up too long, staring at his shirtless torso.


	8. Seashore House

Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon _or any of the characters that are included in the story.

This story includes and references events that took place in _Pokémon: Omega Ruby_ and _Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire_. It does not, however, attempt to tell a story that took place the aforementioned titles.

* * *

Stronger, Chapter 8:

Wally was, like usual, the first to wake up. "_Crap! Why do I keep putting myself in embarrassing situations like this…_" he thought to himself. "_May is going to think I'm some sort of pervert…_"

Despite this awkward situation, Wally didn't get up to move. He was not only incredibly comfortable, but he was incredibly worried that he would wake May up.

When May woke up, it was to the light breathing of a pale green haired, pale skinned boy. He had fallen back asleep, but May never even knew that he woke up at all. She was decently awake now, so she just stared around. She glanced at him every so often, but she didn't want to seem like a creep. She spent most of this time staring directly at the ceiling or out of a window. She couldn't help but blush when recalling the events of last night, despite how innocent they were in reality.

Wally, in his drowsiness, crawled right into bed next to May. May tossed and turned, wondering if it was truly his drowsiness or if it was an attempt at flirting. Even if it was, would May mind? She thought that Wally was very cute, but did she find him cute in _that _way? These thoughts plagued her until the sky grew brighter.

Wally and May got up from the bed to find a sky bluer than they were familiar with. Unbeknownst to them, Mr. Briney moved the boat overnight.

* * *

"Umm, s-sorry for… accidentally crawling into the bed last n-night!" Wally said in an embarrassed tone. "I was s-super tired and I don't even remember d-doing it!" he said, accounting for and excusing his actions.

May blushed, but she didn't acknowledge her embarrassment and Wally simply didn't notice. "Don't worry about that- where _are_ we?" she asked as the two went to check outside the window. Outside of the window they were looking through was completely blue- a bright blue sky clashing with a deep blue ocean. They began to panic, wondering if the boat somehow got stranded, until they checked the other window.

Outside of this window, the two could see a lively beach, where Mr. Briney was chatting with some of the locals. When they ran out and jumped onto the pier, Mr. Briney waved them a warm welcome. "Ho ho! Took you long enough, I was wondering when you'd wake up!" he said warmly. "Welcome to Slateport! I wanted to take Peeko out to see the beach, and you kids already got the Dewford City Badge, so I knocked out two Pidgeys with one stone and took us all here!"

Wally and May were left speechless, until, of course, May spoke up. "What!? You can't just do that, I mean what if we wanted to stay in Dewford longer! Besides, we thought we were stranded!" She complained.

Mr. Briney shrugged. "You'll get used to it, lassie."

May, clearly not satisfied with this response, was interrupted by Wally. "Th-thank you, Mr. Briney!" Wally said loudly. "Th-this was our next d-destination anyways!" After this, the two set out together, continuing their adventure. May was sufficiently cooled off, but Wally was fired up. The loud commotion and abundance of trainers got Wally in the mood for battle.

* * *

The two spent the first hour or so walking around and challenging trainers to battles. Despite many of these trainers relaxing, tanning, or swimming, almost every single one of them accepted the offer and gave them a fun battle. The two's pokémon grew a little from these battles, though not quite enough for an evolution. May could tell, though, that Slakoth was teetering on the edge of evolving.

After the initial battling that took place on the beach, the two began to walk up to a small "Seashore House," one that had a familiar bicycle outside and seemed to be a hotspot for skilled trainers. As if on cue, an incredibly skilled trainer walked out of the house. Brendan, who was looking awfully proud, almost walked right into May and Wally as he exited the house. "Woah! I gotta be careful where I- hey! Long time no see, you two!" Brendan exclaimed. "How'd you make it all the way out here?"

"We made it by carving a path of destruction through any trainer that gets in our way!" May said, jokingly, and Wally giggled. "But seriously, we hitchhiked on a boat to get to Dewford, and the same boat took us by force over here…" May said with a sigh. "But I guess it's not so bad!"

"Yeah, I m-mean, after all, we r-ran into you here! A-almost literally!" Wally joked, at which point the other two trainers laughed, making Wally feel incredibly good about himself. "What b-brings you here, though?" he inquired.

"Well, this is just how the journey goes, my friend. And by the way, May. That 'path of destruction' would hit a wall next time you decide to battle me," Brendan taunted. "If you wanna get stronger for when that happens, though, I'd recommend training here a little bit!" he said, gesturing towards the "Seashore House." "I, however, gotta get moving. I won't just sit around while you catch up with me!" Brendan said as he hopped on his began riding off towards a city. "Later, May! Later, Wally!" he said as his voice trailed away.

* * *

May stuck her tongue out at him. "Meh, I bet he's bluffing!" she said with a scoff. "I'll show him who'll carve a path through who…" she grumbled.

"L-let's think of a less brutal metaphor for pokémon battles." Wally said timidly. "Anyways, we sh-should check this place out! I'm sure it's the p-perfect place to train!" he said, trying to change subjects before May could retort. The two entered the house, where several scary looking adults and normal looking kids were enjoying some food. As the door opened, each person's gaze was drawn towards Wally and May. This intimidated both of them, but they shook it off.

"Alright, two on one?" a scary looking lady said, gesturing towards Wally. A little boy nodded, and they both walked over to Wally, who looked horrified. "Hey, wait! That's not fair!" May piped up, but her argument was cut short by a little girl and a scary looking man, who looked like they wanted to battle her. In two different parts of the shop, each trainer was going to battle against two different foes at once.

On one side, May was put against a little girl, who sent out a Goldeen; and a man, who sent out a Poochyena. Her Grovyle was her only pokémon out right now. May was usually fine at coordinating attacks, but she knew that she was at a disadvantage when it came to numbers. She could very easily take out one pokémon, but as soon as she did, she would immediately be harassed by the other one. "Heh, I'll play dirty too!" May exclaimed, after a brilliant idea came to her. "Go! Slakoth!" she said as she sent it out.

On the other side, Wally was facing even tougher odds. The scary looking lady sent out an equally scary-looking pokémon, one that Wally had to use his PokéDex to identify as Sableye; and the little boy sent out a Kanto pokémon, which he knew to be a Tentacool. Like May, Wally was excellent at coordinating attacks, but unlike May, Wally did not have a second pokémon to rely on to bring any odds in his favor. "_I've got to think quick…_" Wally thought as he sketched out a battle plan in his head.

* * *

May was the first to attack. "Grovyle, use Mega Drain on Goldeen!" she ordered, and Grovyle obeyed. Due to the nature of the attack, Grovyle didn't have to get close to Goldeen or Poochyena at all, while dealing significant damage. Goldeen was injured, but not out of the fight quite yet.

Poochyena closed the gap quite quick though. Upon being ordered to use "Bite," it lunged at Grovyle and sank its fangs into its arm. Grovyle cried out in pain, so May responded swiftly, ordering Slakoth to use "Feint Attack." against the Poochyena. Despite the move not being particularly effective, the Poochyena was knocked off. Soon after, though, the already weak Goldeen was ordered to use "Horn Attack" against Slakoth, launching a volley of glowing cone-shaped horns out of thin air towards Slakoth. Slakoth was relatively unharmed, so May thought it to be safe to pursue the dangerous Poochyena before finishing off the Goldeen.

May ordered Grovyle to use "Quick Attack," after which, Grovyle lunged at its oppressor and slashed at it, trying to ensure that it would be safe from being bitten again by its foe. Poochyena winched and fell back, almost knocked out, but it would not yet succumb. Again, it was ordered to "Bite" Grovyle, who could not take much more of the sharp fangs. May knew it was time to finish Poochyena off, so again, Slakoth was ordered to use "Feint Attack." This time, after Slakoth knocked Poochyena off of Grovyle, Poochyena fainted. "Yes! Great job, Slakoth!" May said, congratulating her pokémon.

"Heh, it's a bit too soon to celebrate, kid…" the scary looking man said. He withdrew Poochyena and drew out another pokéball. From this one, he threw out a brutal looking pokémon, which May used her PokéDex to identify as Carvanha. May sighed. Her pokémon were getting overwhelmed…

Suddenly, Slakoth began to glow. "Yes! You're in for it now!" May said, triumphantly. Slakoth, while emitting a white light, began to change position from laying down to standing upright.

"St-stop that Slakoth, Goldeen! Horn Attack!" the trainer girl ordered, and Goldeen sent another volley of glowing horns at the glowing Slakoth. However, if Slakoth was relatively unaffected before, it was almost is if it wasn't attacked this time. Once the light dissipated, it was no longer a Slakoth. May could tell, since her father had one, that this was a Vigoroth. Together, Vigoroth and Grovyle made quick work of the already weak Goldeen as well as the Carvanha.

* * *

Wally, however, had been struggling more than his partner trainer. "Kirlia, use Disarming Voice!" he ordered, and Kirlia obeyed, sending a visual impression of words from its mouth onto the Sableye. However effective this was against Sableye, it did not seem quite defeated. Immediately after this, the scary looking lady commanded, "Sableye, use Night Shade!" and upon hearing this, Sableye sent a wave of shadows and dread over to Kirlia. On top of this, the little swimmer boy, who accompanied the lady in Wally and Kirlia's torment, had his Tentacool use "Acid" on Kirlia, sending a splash of harsh-purple liquid onto his pokémon.

Kirlia was hurt by both of these, but its raw experience made it so much stronger than either of the other pokémon that it simply didn't succumb. So, since Kirlia's strength was not yet faltering, Wally ordered Kirlia, saying, "Now quick! Use Confusion on Tentacool!" Wally could not afford Tentacool to keep battling. He hoped that this one move took Tentacool out of the battle entirely, so that he could focus solely on the much larger threat, the Sableye. Thankfully, Tentacool was knocked out, and it was now a battle of attrition between two pokémon that had the other's weakness at its disposal.

"Looks like it's just you and me, little man," the woman said. "Why don't you just give up and join my posse? You'd look great in black, you know." she said with a smirk. Wally blushed and shook his head. "I'm on a-an adventure, thank you! And I won't st-stop here! Kirlia, use Disarming Voice!" he ordered swiftly. Just as Kirlia was about to sing painful words towards Sableye, the lady ordered "Quick, use Shadow Sneak!" and Sableye vanished. Kirlia and Wally both looked around to see where it could have gone, but neither were able to locate the impish pokémon. Suddenly, out of Kirlia's own shadow, Sableye jumped out and gave Kirlia a ghostly-lit slash across its back. Though in pain, Kirlia was compelled to carry out its prior command; that is to say, as soon as it saw Sableye, it used "Disarming Voice" against it. After both moves landed, the two pokémon remained standing, though both wobbly and shaky. One was about to fall, though whichever one it would be was truly ambiguous. After a few painful seconds of Wally's eyes darting from Kirlia, to Sableye, to the scary lady, Sableye toppled over and had to be withdrawn into its pokéball. "Yes!" Wally exclaimed, victorious.

* * *

"Heheh… good show, kid." the lady said in congratulations as she and the tuber boy paid Wally. "I hope you know, the whole unfair battle thing is just how we do it in the Seashore House." she explained. At this point, May was finished with her battle and was listening as well. "We test the mightiest trainers who come by. Only a few trainers have ever bested us. In fact, one of those trainers was here just a few minutes ago, and he beat all four of us at once…"

Wally and May exchanged glances. She had to have been talking about Brendan, but could he have really gotten _that_ strong? May piped up, asking, "Excuse me, but what pokémon was this trainer using?" She was obviously worried that Brendan had indeed surpassed May, this time by a large margin.

The lady scratched her head in thought. "Well, hmm… it's definitely one I've never seen before… he said that he could use his strongest one, which he said was a 'Blaziken,' but instead he decided to use something else…" Wally and May were speechless. Wally was speechless out of confusion while May was speechless out of awe. "_Brendan's Combusken evolved into a Blaziken? And he didn't even need it to beat all four of these trainers?_" May thought, somewhat frustrated at Brendan's growth.

"Eh, whatever. The name may come to me later." she said with a shrug. "It's not like it won just because it was crazy strong, but it's like our attacks did nothing against it. So don't go around trying to pick fights with that thing, if you see it." she advised.

* * *

Though neither of the duo quite knew what exactly to avoid confrontation with due to the vague description of the pokémon, if that could even justifiably be called a description, they did know that they had to get their pokémon healed. They chatted on the way to the Pokémon Center. "I s-saw your Slakoth evolve! C-congratulations! It looks so cool and f-fast!" Wally said, complimenting May and Vigoroth.

"Thank you!" May replied. "I saw Kirlia fighting that creepy purple pokémon, Sableye! It was so tense, just watching them both when they looked like they were about to faint!" she said. They continued chatting up until they got inside, where they each had their exhausted pokémon healed.

Upon exiting the Pokémon Center, they saw an incredibly odd and scary scene. "M-May! Those people in b-blue!" Wally said as he pointed towards a large gathering of people in a painfully familiar uniform outside a museum. "Shh!" May instructed as they ducked behind a bush. "We can't risk them seeing us." Suddenly, they saw a familiar bike dash by, and they heard a familiar bicycle bell ringing. Lots of people started yelling, so the two looked over the bush and saw Brendan splitting the crowd by riding through it with his bicycle, drawing the attention of all of the present members, and even causing some to give chase. At this, Brendan turned around and winked at the dynamic duo.

* * *

Wally, thankful, thought, "We definitely owe him one after all of this blows over…" Meanwhile, May, jealous of his battling skills and new pokémon, just pouted while she and Wally ran away.


End file.
